Soluble ink fountain pen



@et 30, 19341. R, B. KINGMAN ET AL SOLUBLE INK FOUNTAIN PEN Filed Feb. 9, 1954 .uml

Patented Oct. 30, 1934 l 1,978,675

UNITED 4.'rrAfrlss PATENT Fries Russell B. Kingman, Orange, and Daniel J. Mayer, Belleville, N. J.; said Mayer assigner to said Kingman Application February 9, 1934, Serial No. 710,450 Y 11 claims. (o1. 12o-.42) i This invention relates to improvements in` that Similar characters of reference are employed inclass of fountain pens nlwhich the writing fluid the above-described views, to indicate correis formed by flowing a solvent, such as water, in sponding parts. l contact with an initially dry but soluble ink ma- Referring to the drawing, the reference char- 51 terial, the resultant writing fluid being thereupon acter 10 indicates the main body or barrel of the 601i supplied to the pen nib; and thisr invention has pen, the same being externally screw-threaded, reference, more particularly, to improvements in as at 11, adjacent to its lower end, for the recepfountain pens of this type ofthe general kind de tion of the removal cap 12 which is adapted to scribed in prior United States `Letters Patent No. enclose the pen nib when the pen is not in use.

li 1,912,774, dated June 6, 1933, wherein a plurality Fixed within the body or barrel 10, in a position 65 of individual ink masses are arranged to be sucspaced upwardly from the open lower end therecessively available until the entire available quanof, is a plug 13 having at its upper end a protity of ink is exhausted by use. jecting Spud 14 of reduced diameter, over which This invention has for its principal object to is engaged the mouth of a sac 15 to contain water 152 provide an improved arrangement of ink carryor any other suitable solvent. Said sac extends 70 ing means in combination with a solvent feed upwardly with-in the barrel interior.V Said plug 13 means capable of being selectively disposed in is securely and immovably aiiixed to the barrel operative relation thereto, so as to successively walls in any suitable manner. Said plug 13, with expose different individual bodies of ink material its spud 14, is provided with an axial bore 16 in il i subject to contact with a. solvent .whereby the sevwhich is tted and immovably secured, by any 75 eral masses of ink material are adapted to be suitable means, the upper end of a solvent feed successively used in the formation of writing fluid tube 17, so that the lattercommunicates with the for delivery to the pen nib. interior of the sac 15. Said feed tube 17 is pro- With this object in View, the invention cornvided, at a point spaced below said plug 13, with 25. prises a stationary ink material magazine relaan external annular stop flange 18. Telescopically 80 tive to which a solvent feed means .is movably engaged over the lower end portion of said feed arranged for communication with the different tube 17 is a sleeve 19, having at its upper end a ink masses with which the magazine is charged; diametrically enlarged head 20 provided with a the arrangement being such that not only is the countersunk upwardly open chamber 21 the 39; mechanical construction of the pen simplified, bottom of which forms an internal shoulder 22 85 and its manipulation more readily accomplished, adapted to abut the stop-flange 18, when the but all risk of leakage of either the solvent per se latter is received within said chamber 21. A suitor the writing iiuid formed by union of the solvent able packing material 23 is entered within the and ink material to the exterior surface of the chamber 21 and engaged over the stop flange 18 pen barrel or holder, with resultant `staining of and around the adjacent portion of the feed tube 90 the users fingers, is eliminated. 17; the packing being compressed and held in Other objects of this invention, not at this time place by a gland 24 which is threaded into the more particularly enumerated, will be understood internallythreaded open end of the chamber 21. from the following detailed description of the Said gland is provided with Spanner Wrench 40. same. sockets 25 for manipulating the same. The pack- 95 An illustrative embodiment of the invention is ing 23 produces a tight joint between the upper end shown in the `accompanying drawing, in whiclnwl of the sleeve 19 and the feed tube 17, and also a Fig. 1 is an elevational View of a soluble ink rfrictionalgripoftheformer upon the latter,where fountain pen according to this invention, the re' by the tube 17 while capable of being turned relamoval cap thereof being shown in normal closed tive to the sleeve 19, will not be likely to be acci- 100 relation thereto and in longitudinal section; Fig. dentally displaced from any given adjusted rela- 2 is a fragmentary longitudinal vertical section `to the latter to which it may have been tion with the cap removed, said section being manually turned. taken on line 2-2 in Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a similar The reference character 26 indicates a hollow 50. longitudinal vertical section, with certain parts ink material magazine, the same comprising a shown in elevation; Fig` 4 is a transverse section, cylindrical shell having an upper portion 27 of taken on line 4 4 in Fig. 2, but drawn on an reduced external diameter to provide a shoulenlarged scale; and Fig. 5 is another transverse der 28. The upper end of the magazine is closed section, taken on line 5-k-5 in Fig. 2` and also by an integral end Wall 29. The magazine is drawn on an enlarged-scale. further provided with a central or axial bore to receive the sleeve 19 over which the magazine is to be engaged. The interior of the magazine is subdivided into a plurality of ink material holding compartments or pockets by radial walls or partitions 30 which project inwardly from the external side walls thereof to converge upon and abut the sides of the sleeve 19; the compartments or pockets being open toward the latter. The walls of said sleeve 19 are provided with a plurality of longitudinal slots or openings 31 corresponding in number with the number of compartments or pockets with which the magazine is provided; said slots or openings being respectively aligned with the respective magazine compartments or pockets. At its lower open end, the magazine is provided with a countersunk seat 32 to receive a closure washer or disc 33 to close the lower ends of the compartments or pockets. Said mpartments or pockets are each charged or packed with a body 34 of suitable soluble ink material. This ink material may be provided in any well-known form, such e. g. as of stick form, or in the form of a powder or paste. After the compartments or pockets are charged with the ink material, the closure washer or disc 33 is engaged in the seat 32 to close the lower ends of the charged compartments or pockets. The ink charged magazine is slid over the lower end of the sleeve 19 and pushed upwardly thereon so that its upper reduced end portion 27 is entered in the lower open end of the barrel 10, until the margin of the skirt 35 of the latter is engaged by the shoulder 28, and the upper end of the magazine abutted against the underside of the head 20 of said sleeve 19. Said sleeve head 20 is provided with a depending positioning pin 36 which enters an opening in the upper end wall 29 of the magazine, thus positioning the latter so that its ink charged compartments or pockets are respectively aligned with the respective slots or openings 31 of the sleeve 19.

The reference character 37 indicates the throat member of the fountain pen, the lower end of which is suitably bored to receive insertion of a pen nib 38 and a feed bar 39; the latter having a channel or passage 40 open to the inner side of the pen nib to convey writing fluid to the latter. At its upper end the throat member is closed by an end wall 41 having a central opening 42 to receive the lower end of said sleeve 19. Imbedded in the throat member, intermediate said opening 42 and the feed bar 39, is an internally screw-threaded nut-member 43 which is immovably affixed to said throat member. The lower end portion of said sleeve 19 is externallyscrew-threaded, as at 44, for engagement by said nut-member 43. After the ink-charged magazine is assembled on the sleeve 19 and inserted into the g lower end of the barrel 10, the throat member 37 is screwed home onto the end of said sleeve, thereby securing in operative assembled relation the various parts of the pen, and at the same time coupling the upper end of the feed bar passage 40 in communicating alignment with the passage 45 of the feed tube 17 which communicates at its upper end with the interior of the sac 15. The Sac 15 is compressible bymeans of the usual filling lever means 46, or any other manipulatable lling device, accessible at, the exterior of the barrel 10, whereby, when the throat member 37 is dipped in water or other solvent, and vthe air driven out of the sac 15 by compression, the water or solvent will be forced by atmospheric pressure upwardly through the pennib, feed bar passage and feed tube into the sac 15 so as to store a supply thereof within the latter. It will be obvious that the compressible sac 15 is merely illustrative of one of several usual types of water or solvent reservoir means, and consequently, in its broader aspects, this invention is not to be limited to such form of reservoir or pen filling means.

The feed tube 17 is provided in its side with a single port 47, so that by turning movement of the feed tube 17 relative to the sleeve 19 and associated ink material magazine, the feed tube passage 45 may be selectively brought into communication with the ink charged compartments or pockets of the magazine. Since the feed tube 17 is affixed or united to the barrel 10 by means of the plug 13, which is mutually secured to and between these parts, it follows that by turning the barrel 10 relative to the mutually interengaged and secured sleeve 19, magazine 26 and throat member 37, the feed tube 17 will be turned within the sleeve 19 so as to bring the feed tube port 47 into registration with any given slot or opening 3l of the sleeve 19, and consequently into communication with the corresponding ink-charged compartment or pocket of the magazine. In order to assist the user in readily and quickly ascertaining the operative position of the feed tube relative to a given ink compartment or pocket of the magazine, the outer surface of the magazine is provided with a register mark corresponding to the position of the feed tube port 47, and the skirt 35 of the barrel with positioning marks or indicia corresponding to the positions of the ink compartments or pockets of the magazine.

In the operation of the pen, after the feed tube port 47 has been aligned with a given ink charged compartment or pocket of the magazine, water or other solvent from the reservoir sac 15 will flow downwardly through the passage 45 of the feed tube 17, and will pass through the port 47 and aligned sleeve opening or slot 31 into contact with the ink material 34 of the operative magazine compartment or pocket. In thus contacting with the ink material the water or other solvent will dissolve portions thereof which will thus create a writing fluid which will flow back through the port 47 and downwardly through the lower end of the feed tube passage 45 and thence into the channel 40 of the feed bar 39, whereby the writing fluid is delivered to the pen nib 38 to charge the same for desired writing operation.

It will be obvious that after the ink material is exhausted from one compartment or pocket of the magazine, the feed tube may be turned so as to register its port 47 with another compartment or pocket of the magazine, and so on until the entire supply of ink material has been exhau'sted and the magazine is empty.

The empty magazine may be removed from the pen and recharged with ink material, or replaced with a new filled magazine. This is accomplished by unscrewing and removing the throat member 37 from the end of the sleeve 19, after which the magazine may be in turn slid off of the sleeve, and thereupon recharged, and then again replaced in operative assembled relation to the pen, and secured in such relation by replacing the throat member 37. It will be apparent that all of these operations are easily and quickly accomplished, and that when the parts are assembled they are all securely interrelated together in operative condition, and in such manner as to assure against any leakage of either solvent or writing fiuid to the exterior surfaces of the pen above the pen nib.

`As many Achanges could be madein the above described 'constructions and `many apparently widely .different embodiments of this invention could be made without departing from the scope thereof as `defined in the following claims; it is intendedthat all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawing shall -be interpreted as illustrative and not in alimiting sense. Y

'We claimzi l. In a soluble ink fountain pen, a barrel arranged to provide `a solvent reservoir and having a feed tube leading therefrom, yan inl: material magazine having a plurality of separate pockets, said feed tube having a port adapted lby relative movement of said fee-d tube and magazine to be selectively registered in communication with the ink charged pockets of the latter, a throat member carrying a pen nib and feed bar therefor, and means toretain said throat member and magazine in operative Aassenfibled relation to said. barrelf and feed tube. i

2.In a soluble ink fountain pen, a barrel arranged to provdea solvent reservoir, a fee-d tube having its upper end communicating with said reservoir, means to affix said feed tube to said barrel inaxial extension therefrom, a magazine having `a plurality of centrally open separate ink material holding pockets, said feed tube extendi ing centrally through said magazine, said barrel and feed tube being rotatably related to said magazine, said feed tube having a port selectively disposable in com-munication with the pockets of said magazine upon rotation of said barrel and feed tube relative to the latter,` a lthroat member carrying a pen-nib and feed bar therefor, and meansto retain said throat member Vand magazine in operative assembled relation to said barrel and feed tube.

' 3. `In asoluble ink fountain pen, a throat memberhaving a` pen-nib and feed bar therefor, an ink materialfmagazine having a series of chambei-sto` contain soluble ink material, said magazine being immovably related tosaid throat member, a barrel arranged to provide a solvent reservoir,`said barrel being rotatably related to said magazine, a feed tube affixed to said barrel to extend through said magazine, said feedtube being adapted to communicate at one 'end with said reservoir and at the other Awith the feed bar of said throat member, saidffeed tube having a port adapted by turning of the tube with said barrel relative to said magazine to be selectively registered with any one of the chambers of said maga- I zine.

l` gaged axially through said magazine and threaded into said throat member, said sleeve having a head to engage yand bind said magazine on said sleeve between said head and said throat member, said sleeve having openings through its sides corresponding to and communicating respectively with the respective magazine chambers, a barrel arranged to provide a solvent reservoir, a feed tube affixed to Said barrel in axial relationthereto to exten-d through said sleeve in intercommunicating relation between said reservoir and the feed bar of said throat member, said barrel being rotatably related to said magazine, and said feed tube having a port adapted by turning of the tube with said barrel relative to said magazine to be selectively registered through the openings of said sleeve ywith any one of the chambers of said magazine. 1

5.` In a soluble ink fountain pen, a throat inember :having aV pen-nib and feed bar therefor, an ink -materialmagazine having a series of chambers to contain soluble ink material, a sleeve engaged axially through said magazine and threaded into said throat member, said sleeve having a head to engage and bind said magazine on said sleeve 'between said head land said throat member, said sleeve having openings through its sides corresponding to and communicating respectively with the respective magazine members, a barrel larranged to provide a solvent reservoir, a feedv tube aflixed to said barrel in axial `relation thereto to extend through said sleeve in intercommunicating relation between said reservoir and the feed barof said throat member, said barrel being rotatably related to said magazine,y said feed tube having a port adapted by turning of the tube with said barrel relative to said magazine to be selectively registered through the openings of said sleeve with any one of the lchambers of said rmagazine, said sleeve head having a chambered upper end, said feed tube having an annular stop flange seated in said chambered head, and means carried by said head to cooperate with said stop flange to prevent longitudin'al` displacement of said sleeve and associated parts relative to said feed tube.

6. In a soluble ink fountain pen, a throat member having a pen-nib and feed bar therefor, an ink material magazine having a series of chambers to contain soluble ink material, a sleeve engaged axially through said magazine and threaded into said throat member, said sleeve having a head to engage and bind said magazine on said sleeve between said head and said throat member, said sleeve having openings through its sides corresponding to and communicating respectively with the respective magazine chambers, a barrel arranged to provide a solvent reservoir, a feed tube affixed `to said barrel in axial relation thereto to extend through said sleeve in intercommunicating relation between said reservoir 'and the feed bar of said throat member, said barrel being rotatably related to said magazine, said feed tube having a port adapted by turning of the tube with said barrel relative to said magazine to be selectively registered through the openings of said sleeve with any one of the chambers of said magazine, said sleeve head having a chambered upper end, said feed tube having an annular stop flange seated in said chambered head, and means carried by said head to cooperate with said stop flange to prevent longitudinal displacement of said sleeve and associated parts relative to said feed tube, said latter means comprising a body of packing engaged around the feed tube within said chambered head and over said stop flange, and a gland member secured within said chambered head over said packing body.

7., In a soluble ink fountain pen, a throat member having a pen-nib and feed bar therefor, a magazine having a plurality of inwardly open radially grouped pockets to contain soluble ink material, said magazine being disposed above and in fixed relation to said throat member, a barrel arranged to provide a solvent reservoir, an axially disposed feed bar afxed to said barrel in communication with said reservoir and adapted to extend downwardly through said magazine into communication with said feed bar, said barrel and feed tube being rotatably related to said magazine, and said feed tube having a port in its side adapted by step by step rotative movementl of said barrel and tube to be successively disposed in lateral communication with said magazine pockets.

8. In a soluble ink fountain pen, a throat member having a pen-nib and feed bar therefor, a magazine having a plurality of inwardly open radially grouped pockets to contain soluble ink material, said magazine being disposed above and in fixed relation to said throat member, a barrel arranged to provide a solvent reservoir, an axially disposed feed bar affixed to said barrel in communication with said reservoir and adapted to extend downwardly through said magazine into communication with said feed bar, said barrel and feed tube being rotatably related to said magazine, and said feed tube having a port in its side adapted by step by step rotative movement of said barrel and tube to be successively disposed in lateral communication with said magazine pockets, and cooperative means on adjacent external surfaces of said barrel and magazine registrable to indicate the operative relation of said feed tube port to the respective magazine pockets.

9. In a soluble ink fountain pen, a throat member having a pen-nib and feed bar therefor, an ink material magazine having a series of chambers to contain soluble ink material, a sleeve engaged axially through said magazine and threaded into said throat member, said sleeve having a head to engage and bind said magazine on said sleeve between said head and said throat member, said sleeve having openings through its sides corresponding to and communicating respectively with the respective magazine chambers, a barrel arranged to provide a solvent reservoir, a feed tube aiiixed to said barrel in axial relation thereto to extend through said sleeve in intercommunie-ating relation between said reservoir and the feed bar of said throat member, said barrel being rotatably related to said magazine, said feed tube having a port adapted by turning of the tube with said barrel relative to said magazine to be selectively registered through the openings of said sleeve with any one of the chambers of said magazine, and cooperative means on adjacent external surfaces of said barrel and magazine registrable to indicate the operative relation of said feed tube port to the respective magazine pockets.

10. In a soluble ink fountain pen, a throat member having a pen-nib and feed bar therefor, an ink material magazine having a series of chambers to contain soluble ink material, a sleeve engaged axially through said magazine and threaded into said throat member, said sleeve having a head to engage and bind said magazine on said sleeve between said head and said throat member, said sleeve having openings through its sides corresponding to and communicating respectively with the respective magazine chambers, a barrel arranged to provide a solvent reservoir, a feed tube aixed to said barrel in axial relation thereto to extend through said sleeve in intercommunicating relation between said reservoir and the feed bar of said throat member, said barrel being rotatably related to said magazine, said feed tube having a port adapted by turning of the tube with said barrel relative to said magazine to be selectively registered through the openings of said sleeve with any one of the chambers of said magazine, said sleeve head having a chambered upper end, said feed tube having an annular stop flange seated in said chambered head, and means carried by said head to cooperate with said stop flange to prevent longitudinal displacement of said sleeve and associated parts relative to said feed tube, said latter means comprising a body of packing engaged around the feed tube within said chambered head and over said stop flange, and a gland member secured Within said chambered head over said packing body, and cooperative means on adjacent external surfaces of said barrel and magazine registrable to indicate the operative relation of said feed tube port to the respective magazine pockets.

11. In a soluble ink fountain pen, a barrel arranged to provide a solvent reservoir, a throat member carrying a pen nib and feed bar therefor, an ink material magazine between said barrel and throat member, said magazine having a plurality of separate ink material storage pockets,

and a rotatable feed means extending through4 said magazine in intercommunicating relation between said solvent reservoir and the feed bar of said throat member, rotation of said feed means being operative to selectively position the passage thereof in communication with said ink material storage pockets of the magazine.

RUSSELL B. KINGMAN.

DANIEL J. MAYER. 

